


Eternal Rival!!!

by Upsetapplecart



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 09:28:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7929535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Upsetapplecart/pseuds/Upsetapplecart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lee is grieving. Gaara decides that challenging him to a duel is the best way to cheer him up- obviously.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eternal Rival!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Whole idea of this fic came from a spoiler! So be alert and stuff!
> 
> Shout out to my beta, shinning beacon of light in the darkness that is gramma and spelling.

Lee sighed down at his crossed legs. He tipped his head to the side and sighed again. Then he stood up and sighed at the sky. After that he began to pace. Marching across the grassy area and back, perusing his feet with furious intent.

Gaara watched all this with mild interest from his own position; sitting beneath a convenient tree, facing outward into the clearing. He frowned. Lee was normally a fountain of- what did he call it? Youth? Yes. Today he was a leaky pipe of middle age and regret.  
He was not alone in observing Lee. On the other side of the grass Tenten was eyeballing Lee with the same caution that people usually reserved for door salesmen and family reunions. Although with her knee bouncing and her fingers drumming on the same leg Tenten didn’t look far off joining Lee in his pacing. 

Something was definitely amiss. 

"Temari." Gaara said. 

Temari stopped mid poke at the sound of her name, the stick in her hand lodged firmly in Kankuro’s side where he was lying beside her, arms and legs crossed, and against all odds pretending to sleep. Temari was in the process of testing those odds.  
She turned her head to look at Gaara, who hadn’t bothered to look at her. "Yeah?"

Out of her line of sight Kankuro cracked one eye open to look at Gaara.

"What is wrong with Team Guy?" Gaara asked. 

Temari flicked her eyes back to exchange a glance with Kankuro. A life time of conversations in a single twitch of muscle. The layer of face paint that covered Kankuro’s eyebrows moved up, giving his non-comitial go ahead.  
Why they still did that Gaara would never know. He was not going to hurt them for answering a question, not ever again. Regardless of what the answer was. 

"Ah. Neji, he err-" she made a gurgling sound and ran a finger across her throat. "You know?"

Gaara nodded. He did know. In his gourd the sand rustled. 

Lee was his friend. And his friend was grieving. Gaara should- needed to- do something. To offer comfort. A Lee that slouched when he walked and stepped with no spring, was not a Lee that Gaara was comfortable watching.  
What would Naruto do? He was a good friend. Or at least he was the kind of friend that Gaara had decided he wanted to be. What would Naruto do?

His siblings watched with concern as Gaara’s frown deepened the crinkle in his forehead. More concerning was when it un-crinkled, smoothed back to bored satisfaction. 

Gaara stood. He shrugged his shoulders so that the gourd fell into its proper place against his back. For what he was about to attempt he needed everything as close to perfect as was possible. 

Lee’s march had taken him back towards Gaara. He stepped into Lee’s path, crossing his arms hard against his own chest. He had to tilt his head up so that his serious fight stare would reach Lee’s eyes and not just his vest zipper. That was irritating.  
Suffering is what friendship is all about, he reminded himself sternly. Would Naruto allow his pride to stop him? No.

"Attack me with all your strength." Gaara said. 

Lee blinked.

Tenten, who had stood up, sat back on her arse with a small huff of surprise.

Kankuro’s eyes snapped open and flicked straight to stare at Temari. Intervention both his question and his fear.  
Gaara really wished they would stop doing that.

Temari sighed, and then started to stand up, hand reaching for her fan. "Gaara, I don't think-"

Gaara ignored them all and continued to stare up at Lee. The sand in his gourd vibrating. Ready, waiting. A little excited. 

"I am sorry Gaara, I do not think I heard you properly?" Lee said, distressed and confused. 

"You did. Attack me with all your strength." Gaara repeated. 

"Gaara!” Lee gasped, and it was a gasp. All shock and betrayal. “A comrade must not attack another! It is not-"

Gaara’s frown deepened. His non-existent eyebrows trying to meet as an outward expression of his frustration. Why was helping people so very hard? Damn them. 

"I challenged you.” He said. “Now. Attack. Me."

"Gaara I really-"

Gaara harrumphed. Then he twitched a wrist. Sand slithered up from the ground around his feet- eager, always so eager- and slapped a surprised Lee across the face, leaving a livid red mark.

Friendship. Sorry Lee. It is in the name of friendship. 

"Fight me." He said. 

Lee looked into Gaara’s eyes- one heartbeat, two heartbeats- and a decision was made. Gaara could tell by the way his eyebrows formed a flat line across his forehead. 

Lee flicked his hair and jutted one hip out further than the other, one hand resting on it, elbow creating an impressive right angle. One of his teeth sparkled. 

"If you are really insistent on this fight than how can I, Konoha’s Beautiful Green Wild Beast, ignore such a challenge? It would go against my ninja way!" Lee slid into his fighting stance. One hand held straight in front of him, the other behind his back. Nice guy pose activated.  
Gaara allowed himself a pleased twitch of the mouth. Sometimes friendship could be fun.

"Lee are you really sure that now is the tim-"

"Tenten! Please!" Lee held out a hand to stop her words, but his eyes never left Gaara's face. "My honor as a ninja is at stake. Would I be able to hold my head high if I ignored such a challenge?"

Tenten opened her mouth, and then closed it. She dropped back onto the grass, elbow resting on her knee. "Fine. Whatever. Go ahead."

Lee smiled, "I accept the challenge. We begin now." He moved. A green blur. "Leaf Hurricane!"

The sand spread out above Gaara. A shield intended to block the downwards arching kick that was aimed at his head. Vibrations spread out from where Lee’s heel impacted, like ripples in water, as the sand barrier tried to brace against a blow that landed with enough force to crack concert. 

Gaara allowed himself to feel satisfaction. Lee was taking the fight seriously. It would have been irritating if he hadn't. Gaara twitched his fingers. The sand slid up and wrapped around Lee’s ankle. Another flick of a finger and the sand acted like the end of a rope, flicking out to fling Lee upwards and across the grassy area.

Lee landed on his hands, flipped over onto his feet, and returned to his fighting stance. A puff of air and he was running forward again, flashing into Gaara’s personal space. His leg bent at the knee, with a trajectory that would end in Gaara’s nose half way inside his skull. The sand sped to intercept, just catching the knee before it could land its intended blow. Gaara was pleased at that. Even with Lee’s speed, it was keeping up.

Then Gaara doubled over, heaving for air, as Lee’s other leg slammed into his stomach. The sand lashed out- almost on reflex- trying to push Lee away. It was too slow. Lee bent backwards under the scything sand, the world’s fastest limbo dancer. Catching himself on his hands he retaliated by flicking his legs out at the back of Gaara’s knees- and the joints that held them up. 

Gaara tried to move away from the blow. He was too slow. The kick took his legs out from under him. Gaara toppled, falling through empty space for a tenth of a second, wind rushing in his ears. The sand caught him before he hit the ground, whisking him out of Lee’s range. For now, anyway.

Lee let his momentum carry him back into the Nice Guy Pose. Facing Gaara, bandaged hand extended. Chest rising and falling steadily. His eyes seemed alive again for the first time in hours. 

Gaara heaved in some deep breaths of his own as the sand stood him up. He had not thought that Lee would break through his barrier quite that fast. 

Somewhere in the background Tenten sighed, "I thought today might be a slow day, but noooo."

"Tell me about it." Kankuro said. 

“I just did. Idiot.” 

"You are a skilled opponent Gaara! Many would have fallen to the first blow alone!" Lee shouted, whacking his own chest. 

Gaara licked his lips and flicked a hand. A giant sand imitation of the same hand reached out for Lee, who ducked under it easily, still maintaining his stance.

"Thank you." Gaara said. He meant it. 

The sand-hand swung backwards, a back-handed blow aimed at the back of Lee’s skull. Lee bent his knees and leapt up, hands using the sand as a balancing platform, before flipping his body over the other side. Gaara attempted to make the sand grip the fingers, but Lee was too fast and the grains did nothing but run into each other. 

Gaara showed his teeth, in an expression that was more excitement than malice. His sand built itself up in a wall between him and Lee, making Gaara vanish like some eerie desert illusion. Behind the wall he heard Lee grunt.

"Lee, are you sure that’s-"

"Please, not now Tenten."

A second grunt from Lee and Gaara’s sand barrier exploded backwards towards him. The edge of Lee’s shoulder appeared and then pushed through. A blur almost too fast for the eyes to follow. 

He's faster than before. 

With the sand racing to catch up Lee sprung forward. He was so close that Gaara could see the shine on Lee’s hair and the bandaged covered knuckles of his fist. Gaara lent back, trying to get Lee out of his personal space. The incoming fist connected anyway and Gaara flew backwards, too fast for the sand to catch him.

His back hit one of the trees that edged the clearing and it shattered on his impact. Broken top half falling backwards to the ground below with a thud.

Gaara breathed out through the pain and looked up. Lee was standing above him, shaking his wrist and panting. Gaara could feel pieces of his sand armor cracking away and falling into his lap. That would take a fair bit of chakra to put back together. It didn’t matter. It had been in the name of friendship. Friendship was worth it.

Temari and kankuro crept up, one on either side of Lee’s shoulders. Their faces were scrunched up with the indecision they often felt after he was defeated. A three way split between running in the other direction, cheering or turning the person into a bloody pulp. 

"You alright down there?" Temari asked, doing research before making a decision.

"Something fell off your face. ‘bout there." Kankuro added, helpfully poking the place on his own painted one.

Ignoring them Gaara stood, dusting himself off and forcing the sand back into the gourd, where it curled in on itself, sulking.  
"That fight was- satisfactory." Gaara said after catching Lee’s eyes, trying to hold them with his own. "But then again, I would expect nothing less from my greatest rival."

Lee froze. 

Temari and kankuro groaned and threw themselves back onto the grass, going with option four: Do nothing because your brother has found a brand new kind of crazy to take out for a spin.

Lee was still frozen. 

Gaara felt disappointment settling in with his sand. Sometimes gambles did not pay off. You just had to accept that and walk away. So Gaara did. No reason to linger in failure. He would just have to try something else. 

"Lee, opening a gate for some squabble isn’t-" Tenten started to say, her tone all absent minded lecture. 

Something heavy hit Gaara in the back. He staggered but didn’t instantly try to crush whatever it was in a sand coffin. He was getting better. Also, enemies didn't normally blub until after you had defeated them. Violently. 

"You too. Youb are also my greatest rivble. We shallb fight wib the vigibr of youbf."

"You are getting snot on my coat."

"I am sobry. I amb ober come wib emotion." 

"I hope this doesn't happen every time we duel." Gaara said. 

Lee wiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve and threw himself away from Gaara, visibly composing himself.  
"With Konoha’s Beautiful Green Wild Beast as your greatest rival you will never want for a challenge again!" He said. The thumb appeared and the gleam on one of Lee’s teeth along with it. 

It was like watching rainclouds part. 

"I'm glad." Gaara said, and meant it. 

On the grass around them the three witnesses groaned loudly, trying to release some of their second hand embarrassment. 

Gaara didn't notice. He had helped someone important to him. It was a good feeling. 

He smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> (Neji's death being the spoiler!) Full disclosure- I haven't actually read up to that part of the manga, I just heard about it and this was the first, okay, third thing that came to mind. So if my facts are incorrect, my apologies.


End file.
